ARC Ref 5se inferior to LS28?

...yeah, what Minorl said...

I agree with some of what @minorl says, especially when he talks about ARC holding it's resale value, and no one being forced to buy them.

I do not think that Pass Labs is in the same turnover ballpark though.
Nelson Pass' .8 series is basically his third version this century.

Pass Labs first X and XA series came out when ARC Ref 2 mk II was ARC's top of the line preamp. Since then, Pass Labs has had two more revisions, the .5 and the .8 series, while ARC has had 4 (Ref 3/5/5SE/6), not including the Anniversary or Ref 10 preamps.

A new design every 6-8 years, as Pass Labs has been doing, is a bit less turnover than a new model every 2-4 years as has been the ARC model.

I agree with jmcgrogan2.

However, I will say that that the Anniversary and REF 10 are in a completely different world, cost wise and sound wise, than the REF3/5 and 5SE.

I would love to hear a REF 6 and REF 10 side by side.  That would be interesting.

I've heard a REF 10.  it was magical.  I thought it better than the Anniversary pre-amp.

But we are talking about two pre-amps that aren't in the same league as the others. 

They are almost cost no object devices.

enjoy

For the consumer able to buy a REF 6 or 10 new, value may not be a concern! For the buyer of a cost-no-object, advancing-the-State-Of-The-Art product, future developments will be dealt with when they appear, the possibility of a new, even-higher level product that makes obsolete their current model to be expected at that elevation. By obsolete, I don’t mean no longer as good sounding as it had been, but rather that no further improvements to it will be offered, all further R & D being put into the new model that replaces it. More like a "dead" product than an obsolete one. As testpilot said, long-term ARC consumers know this to be ARC’s modus operandi. I wonder how many REF pre-amps ARC sells in a model run?

In 7 months, 300 REF 6 were sold.  300 x $12000 = $3,600,000

sales from 12/2015 to7/2016